Patty receiving device



Sept. 8, 1953 L. x. GARFUNKEL 2,651,430

' PATTY RECEIVING DEVICE Filed June 1, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet l Q l 01 on N7 5 f 4 INVENTOR. LOUIS X. GARFUNKEL i h} a/rrz/ O (\l 1 ATTdRNEY.

p 1953 L. x. GARFUNKEL PATTY RECEIVING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledJune 1, 1951 INVENTOR. LOUIS X. GARFUNKEL ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 8, 1953 PATTY RECEIVING DEVICE Louis X. Garfunkel, NewYork, N. Y. Application June 1, 1951;, Serial-No. 229,446 Claims. (01. ss-5s) This invention relates to a device for receiving patties ofhamburger or the like, and more 'particularly pertains to such a devicefor use in conjunction with an automatic patty-forming machine. Such amachine will deliver patties at V a rapid rate, for example 1200 perhour to 3600 per hour (i. e. one every second). The patties in the caseof one type of machine known in the art are expelled laterally from themachine at a predetermined ejection point. The patties must then becollected, for storage, for example, rapidly and without damage thereto.It is unsatisfactory to'performthis operation manually. Some device isneeded to receive the patties and carry them away from the machine. Thedevice of the invention is admirably suited to fill such need In thedevice of the invention, the upper end of an inclined chute ispositioned adjacent to the point of the patties ejection from themachine. A stack of paper or the like is impositively held upon theupper end of the chute, and as each patty is ejected from the machineand falls upon the stack, the topmost wafer is removed by the patty, andthe patty and the wafer slide down the chute together, the patty ridingupon the wafer. At the bottom of the chute, the patty and its wafer maybe easily removed, ready for storage.

It is an important object of the invention to provide a patty-receivingdevice which is simple and inexpensive of construction.

It is another object to provide such a device which will be of sureoperation.

The above and other objects and advantages will appear more clearly froma consideration of the following description taken together with theaccompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the patty-receiving device of the inventiontogether with a portion of an associated automatic patty-formingmachine; and

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of Fig. 1, in which theillustrated parts of the patty-forming machine are drawn to a largerscale than in Fig. 1.

Like reference numerals denote like parts in the various views.

As illustrated, the patty-receiving device, indicated generally at 4,includes a body portion 6, which is mounted on a table 8, being securedthereto by screws ll).

An important part of the body portion 6 is a main chute l2 in the formof an inclined plane and having upper and lower ends l4 and I6,respectively. A second, or auxiliary chute [8, likewise in the form ofan inclined plane, and having upper and lower ends, 20 and 22,respectively, forms a continuation of the chute 12. It will be seen thatthe lower end 16 of the chute [2 coincides with the lower end 22 of thechute l8. The body portion 6 may be formed of any suitable material,such as spring steel, for example. A stack of wafers 24 which may be ofpaper, for example, is impositively held in place on the chute I2 andnear its upper end by releasable holding means, which inthe case of theillustrated embodiment of the invention may be described, as follows: Anumber of holes 28 are cut ina flattened portion 26 of the body 6 alongthe upper-end of the body portion 6. One such hole 28 would besuficient, but three are provided in] the -illustratedembodiment. Onlyone hole 28 is visible in 'the'drawings, for reasons which will appearhereinafter. 'The'wafers 24 are provided withholes 34 near theirright-hand edges, corresponding to the holes 28 in the body portion 6.Slots'36 are cut from the holes 34 to the right-hand edges of the wafers24. A rod 30 having ahead 32 on its upper end is inserted into each oneor more of the holes 28 and through the corresponding holes 34 in thewafers 24. The heads 32 0f the'rods 30 are larger in diameter thanare'theholes 28 and 34, the heads 32 rest in'g upon the, top of thestack of wafers 24. In the illustratedidevice 4, the two outermost holes28 and 34 in the body portion 6 and in the wafers, respectively, havebeen selected for the insertion of rods 30; sov that the outermost holes28 (Fig. 1) are covered. by the heads 32 of the rods 30, and thecorresponding holes 28 .and 34 are'therefore not visible. The width ofthe slots 36 is preferabl slightly narrower than the diameter of the r0ds 30. H

The construction is such that the wafers 24 will not slide down thechute l2 of their own weight alone. This is principally because of theresistance offered to such sliding by the slots 36 of the holes 34, theslots being less in width than the diameter of the rods 30.

Wafer guides 33, in the form of tabs extending upwardly from both sidesof the chute l2 are provided, and may be integral with or rigidlyaffixed to the chute l2.

To the right of the device 4 there is shown a portion of an automaticpatty-forming machine known in the art and indicated generally at 40,the construction and operation of which will be described. The machine40 is of the type referred to above which will deliver patties laterallyat a rate of from about 1200 per hour to 3 about 3600 per hour, forexample. The device of the invention may be typically used inconjunction with such machine, and is well suited to receive pattiestherefrom and to carry the patties away from the machine.

Prepared food mixture 42 is placed in or dropped into a hopper orcontainer 44 which is held in place by a container base (not shown). Arevolving propeller paddle (not shown) pushes the desired amount of foodmixture 42 into cylindrical molds 46 to form patties or cakes 58. The

molds 48 are mounted on a revolving turntable 48 which carries the molds46 from the filling position 50 to the ejecting station 52. As a mold 45approaches the ejecting station 52,- the bot tom surface of the mold 46,which is a piston 54, having a stem 56, is driven upward until its topis flush with the top of the turntable 48.- Thus,

at this point, the patty 58 is at the level of the turntable 48. At theejecting station 52 the patty 58 is removed automatically from thepiston 54 by a dull-edge revolving"- knife 60, the lo er surface ofwhich is flush with the top of the turntable 48. The patty 58 rides upon the knife Bil, which carries the patty 58 against a bar 62, and thepatty is pushed off of the knife 60 by a combination of centrifugalforce and the force exerted on the patty 58 by the bar 62.

The upper end 14 of the chute l2 and the stack of wafers 24 are directlybelow the point where the patty 58 falls off of the knife 50.

Thus in operation, when a patty 58 is deposited upon the stack of wafers24 in a position indicated by dotted lines 62, the patty adheres to thetop wafer, which is then pulled away from the rods 30 by the weight ofthe patty, and the patty 58 and the top wafer slide down the chute l2together, the patty riding on top of the wafer. When they arrive at thelower end IQ of the chute 12, they continue onto the chute l8 and stopat the position indicated. At this time the operator removes the pattyand the wafer together, ready for storage or other use.

The force necessary to remove a wafer 24 from its positionat the upperend M of the chute 12 may be varied by varying the weight and/or thediameter of the rods 30, and/or by varying the number of rods 30 usedand/or by varying the width of the slots 35. For example, if it isdesired to diminish the amount of force necessary to remove a wafer, itis possible to use only one rod instead of two (or more), the one beinginserted into the middle holes 28 and 34.

While I have described my invention as embodied in concrete form inaccordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, it should beunderstood that I do not limit my invention thereto, since variouschanges and modifications may be made without departing from the scopeof the invention as defined by the accompanying claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A device for receivinga patty of hamburger and the like comprising abody portion including a main chute having an upper end and a lower end,a stack of wafers, and means for releasably holding said stack oi wafersupon and near the upper end of said chute, said holding means includinga hole in said body portion and a rod having a head inserted in saidhole, said device being so constructed and arranged that when said pattyis deposited upon the top of said stack, the top wafer will be releasedfrom said holding means, and said patty will slide down to the lower endof said chute upon said top wafer.

2. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein said wafers are providedwith slotted holes and said rod is inserted in said holes as well as inthe hole in said body portion. I I

3. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein said body portion alsoincludes an auxiliary chute which forms a continuation of said mainchute.

4. The invention set forth in claim 1 wherein said body portion isprovided with a wafer guide.

5. A device for receiving a patty of hamburger and the like comprising abody portion including a main chute having an upper end and a lower end,an auxiliary chute having an upper end and a lower end, means joiningthe lower end of said auxiliary chute and the lower end or said mainchute, so that said auxiliary chute forms a continuation of said mainchute, a stack 6f wafers having slotted holes therein, means forreleasably holding said stack of wafers upon and hear the upper end ofsaid main chute, said holding means including a hole in said bodyportion at the upper end of said main chute and a rod having a head atone end thereof and inserted in said slotted holes and in said hole sothat said head rests upon the top of said stack, and a wafer guide, saiddevice being so constructed and arranged that when said patty isdeposited upon the top of said stack, the top wafer will be releasedfrom said holding means, and said patty will slide down to the lower endof said main chute upon said top wafer, and thence onto said auxiliarychute.

LOUIS L.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Bate ,3943% Lafata l Oct. 25, 1921 2,530,062 Holly NOV. 14, 19502,554,821 Garfunkel May 29, 1951

